USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Groton > Groton historical series. A collection of papers relating to the history of the town of Groton, Massachusetts, Vol IV > Part 22
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296
LIST OF DEATHS.
1
BIRTH.
Abel Minott, son of Abel Minott, of Concord, and Lydia, his wife, born at Groton, on May 3, 1794.
From the Town-records.
LIST OF DEATHS.
In Groton, Miss Mary Ann Abbott, aged 18.
" The Lowell Mercury, and Massachusetts Gazette," October 23, 1830.
In Groton, Mr. Elihu Avery, aged 50 years.
" The Lowell Mercury, and Massachusetts Gazette," August 7, 1830.
In Groton [February 22], Mrs. Nancy Bullard [wife of Isaac Bullard], aged 31.
" Lowell Journal," March 16, 1827.
In Groton, Mr. James Davis, aged 23.
"Lowell Journal," August 10, 1827.
In Groton, Nathaniel Dutton, aged 32 years.
" Merrimack Journal " (Lowell), December 8, 1826.
In Groton, 19th inst, Mr Ephraim Farnsworth, aged 43
" Independent Chronicle " (Boston), March 26, 1812.
In Groton, Ist inst Dea Isaac Farnsworth.
" Independent Chronicle " (Boston), October 8, 1812.
In Groton, Mr. Samuel Kemp, aged 77.
"The Lowell Mercury, and Massachusetts Gazette," January 16, 1830.
In Groton, Miss Elizabeth A. Lawrence [daughter of the Hon- orable Luther and Lucy (Bigelow) Lawrence], 21 - Horace L. Stilton [Stilson ], of Vassalboro' (Me.), 12.
" The Lowell Mercury, and Massachusetts Gazette," August 28, 1830.
In Groton, 14th inst. Benjamin Luther, son of Capt Benjamin Leland, of this town, aged 8 years.
"Independent Chronicle " (Boston), September 21, 1812.
In Groton [December 30], Mrs. Lucy Lewis [wife of James Lewis], aged 63.
"Lowell Journal," January 21, 1829.
At the Poor House in Groton, Miss Betsy Wood, daughter of the late Sampson Wood, Esq. of G. aged 35.
"The Lowell Mercury, and Massachusetts Gazette," February 27, 1830.
GROTON HISTORICAL SERIES.
VOL. IV., No. IV.
SHADE AND ORNAMENTAL TREES IN THE VILLAGE OF GROTON. - JOSIAH SARTELL'S BEQUEST. - BIBLIOGRAPHY OF GROTON. - REV. JOSEPH THAXTER, OF EDGARTOWN. - GROTON SCHOOL. - CAPT. JOHN WILLIAMS. - LIST OF REPRESENTATIVES FROM GROTON. - TWO TRUSTEES OF LAWRENCE ACADEMY. - LIST OF MARRIAGES, ETC., FROM THE LUNENBURG RECORDS. - THE OLD TAVERNS OF GROTON. -GROTON ACADEMY. - A SICKLY SEASON .- SAMUEL BROWN. - DR. WARREN'S VISIT TO GROTON. - THE SHAYS REBELLION. - LISTS OF MARRIAGES. - TOWN CLERKS OF GROTON. - PARKER FAMILY. - FIRST PARISH CHURCH. - THE OLD SIXTH MASSACHUSETTS. - CAPT. THOMAS LAWRENCE'S COMPANY. - CAPT. JAMES PARKER, JR. - HENRY YEEND. - FIRST PARISH MEETING-HOUSE. - THE MORSE AND SHATTUCK FAMILIES. - MISS EMILY SEAVER. - LIST OF MAR- RIAGES. - LIST OF DEATHS.
GROTON, MASS.
1896.
GROTON, MASSACHUSETTS, 1896.
HISTORICAL SERIES, VOL. IV., No. IV.
SHADE AND ORNAMENTAL TREES IN THE VILLAGE OF GROTON.
GOVERNOR BOUTWELL has kindly furnished me with a copy of his paper on Shade and Ornamental Trees in the Village of Groton, which he read before the Groton Historical Society, on November 8, 1894. His familiarity with the neighborhood during threescore years, aided by a keen eye for observation and by a retentive memory, renders him a most competent person to write on the subject. The paper will have an increasing interest, as the years roll by; and it is as follows : -
IT will be sixty years the fifth day of March next since I became a resident of Groton, and in no respect has the town been more improved than in the multiplication of trees on the sides of streets and highways, and in the grounds around the dwellings.
In the year 1835 the following streets did not exist, viz. : High Street, Pleasant Street, Champney Street, Willow Dale, Court Street, and Station Avenue. The trees upon those streets have been planted from time to time as the streets were established. In 1835 there were no trees upon the Common by the Chaplin school-house, and with the exception of an elin by the Mansfield house there were none on Hollis Street above the cottage now occupied by Mrs. Simeon Ames.
The old graveyard was bare of trees until 1846. In that year I was elected chairman of the board of selectmen, and while in office I directed Eliab G. Bolton, who had usually mowed the weeds and
F
298
SHADE AND ORNAMENTAL TREES.
grass, to save every growth that promised to make a tree. From that order have come the trees now growing in the cemetery, with the exception of a small number that have been set by friends of persons buried in the grounds.
Going northward on the road towards Hollis and Dunstable there were no trees unless the large and beautiful maple by the Champney house may have been an exception. The elms by the Dr. Chaplin house had a very considerable size at a time as early as I have any recollection of them.
There were also one or two elms of considerable size in the rear of the house now owned by Mrs. George Blood, but then owned by Daniel Shattuck.
Passing on to Main Street, the first tree of notable size was a large ash that stood at the corner of Court and Main Streets, and near the Stevens store. It was then aged, and many years ago it was cut down.
Two or three small elms stood in front of the Stevens store, and the house now owned by Dr. Warren. The very considerable elm at the foot of Colonel Needham's grounds had not been set. Some years later, probably between 1840 and 1850, the building after- ward known as Liberty Hall was moved from the low land at the foot of Willow Dale to the site of the Stevens store. In moving the building it was drawn over the young elm, which yielded to the weight without any apparent injury.
The elm that stands near the cottage on the premises of Wm. A. Lawrence, known as the Dr. Amos B. Bancroft place, was a young tree, a volunteer growing in the old fence.
On the other side of the street and in front of the Hollingsworth place, now owned by Frank Lawrence Blood, are several large trees that were volunteers and owed their continued existence to the fact that they were protected by the fence in which they were growing. The fence was irregular, as are the trees. One of them is on the street side of the fence, two or three are in the Hollingsworth grounds, and one or two are in the lot of Mrs. Ames. About the year 1840 the county commissioners changed the street lines, and the tree by the cottage became private property, and several of the trees on the opposite side of the street fell inside of the street lines.
Following the line of the street on the westerly side there was not a tree of any considerable size between the one by the cottage, and the elm-trees in the land of Charles Gerrish and to the south- east of the house of the Misses Warren.
299
SHADE AND ORNAMENTAL TREES.
From the cottage to the house owned by Mrs. Blitz, widow of Signor Blitz, then the property of Elijah Whiton, there was neither tree nor building. About the year 1836, the entire square, including the ground where the railway station stands, was sold at auction. It was bought by Dr. Bancroft, senior. The price was $125 or $135 per acre, and it was called the Lewis lot.
There was not a tree between the entrance to Mr. Geo. D. Brigham's place, then the property of his father, and the shop on the northerly side of the Dix building, then a store kept by Benj. P. Dix. The property was owned by Jonathan Loring, whose house stood near where the high school building now stands. His work- shop, then unused, stood near to Bruce's drug store and a few feet to the south. Mr. Loring and his wife were not friendly to trees.
Turning to the north end of the street, I cannot recall the fact of the existence of a single tree north of the brook between those near the house of Mrs. Geo. Blood and the trees near the junction of Court Street and Main Street. The house of Dr. Amos Bancroft stood on what is now my lawn, and somewhere near the centre. In front and within the street limits, after the alteration of the line, there was a large horse-chestnut tree, and also an elm of very con- siderable size. The elm was cut down December 2, 1859, and the horse-chestnut was removed into the yard of Mr. Charles Bancroft somewhat later, when the grade of the sidewalk was lowered.
The trees about my house have been set since 1850. It is my impression that the trees in the yard in front of the house of Mrs. Eliel Shumway were set before 1830, and by Mr. Luther Lawrence, who built the house.
In the year 1835 the trees in the grounds of the estate of Dr. Samuel A. Green had then been recently set by his father, Dr. Joshua Green. As to the tree now standing in the south-west corner of the lot and near the brick store, I have a distinct recollec- tion of a statement which I received from Dr. Joshua Green, viz., that he brought that tree to his home in his chaise. At about the same time the two trees that stood in front of the Henry Woods house were set. In 1841 they were so small that I dug around them in the hope of promoting their growth. The fire which destroyed the house, on July 8, 1892, was a serious injury to the trees ; and since then they have been cut down.
The next trees were the elms in the yard of the Boynton place, now owned by Mr. Charles Gerrish. The trees in the street are of
300
SHADE AND ORNAMENTAL TREES.
later origin. The next tree is the elm near the well in the cor- ner of the lawn of Mr. Bigelow, then the property of Mr. John Peabody.
In 1835 the Common in front of the First Parish meetinghouse had not been fenced in, but the row of elms on the margin of the street had been planted at the same time that a double row was planted on that side of the street to the house now owned by Mr. John E. Hodgman. Most of the second row have disappeared, but a few of them remain in front of the Academy buildings.
These trees were set by John G. Park and Benjamin Prescott, and the work was the earliest systematic attempt to improve the appear- ance of the town by the growth of shade and ornamental trees. To Mr. Park I am indebted for the statement that Prescott procured the trees from a farmer in Brookline, New Hampshire, and paid for them with young apple-trees from his father's nursery. The elms in the park now called Prescott Square were set at the same time, and by the same persons. In front of the Judge Prescott place, more recently called the Fosdick place, there were two large elms and a black-walnut tree. One elm and the walnut remain, but at a time previous to 1840, the other elm was blown over. 1
The magnificent elms in front of the Susan Prescott place, now owned by Parker Fletcher, and on both sides of the street and forming an arch over it, were then of great size, as were the elms and black-ash trees further along on the Boston road, and near the residences of George Prescott and Eugene O. Collier.
In front of the residence of Stuart J. Park, now the residence of Mr. Frank F Woods, there was a gnarled oak that antedated in its beginning the settlement of the town probably, and, vigorous as it was, it would have withstood the storms of another century. It marked the birthplace of Col. William Prescott, and its destruction was only less than a public calamity.
There were elm-trees and one or two mountain-ash trees in front of the Academy building now occupied by Mrs. Sibley, and there were elm-trees by the other Academy house, now occupied by Rev. Dr. Young. The mountain-ash trees have disappeared, but the elms can be distinguished readily from their size and marks of age.
The double row of willows by the road across Broad Meadow
1 This happened, probably, in the year 1836, and during the same gale Mr. Osborn's house, then in process of framing just across the way, was blown down. - G.
301
JOSIAH SARTELL'S BEQUEST.
were set between the years 1846 and 1851. In those years the board of selectmen consisted of Joshua Gilson, Pelatiah Fletcher, and myself. The railing against the ditches by the roadside had become so impaired that a new railing was required. Mr. Joseph Rugg was employed to build the new railing, and he was directed to set the willows, but with the only thought that they might be a substitute for a railing. That end they answer, but they also con- stitute an avenue of shade and beauty.
The new cemetery was laid out in the year 1847, and thus a bare and barren hill was transformed into a park, made attractive even in the evidences of death and change by the beauty of the trees that have been planted along its ways and avenues.
In the year 1835 the thought of planting trees by the highway, or of preserving those that might spring up, had not taken posses- sion of the public mind.
In the last third of a century a good deal has been accomplished in both particulars ; but there is much opportunity for better things, especially in the protection and the preservation of the trees that we now have. Within the last ten years the telegraph and telephone companies have done irreparable damage by the mutilation of trees by the roadsides, sometimes within the road limits and sometimes on private property.
Serious injury has been done by abutters who have cut trees, and destroyed the lesser growth upon the margins of the roads, and often to the damage of their own estates.
These proceedings should be arrested by the rigid enforcement of the law, which is ample for the purpose. I cannot doubt that the beauty of the town has been more improved in these sixty years by the planting and growth of trees than it has been by the erection of new buildings, and the repair and adorument of old ones.
JOSIAH SARTELL'S BEQUEST.
AT my request Clement Hugh Hill, Esq., a member of the Suffolk Bar, has kindly furnished me with a clear and short account of the suit brought to recover possession of the two farms devised by Josiah Sartell to the town of Groton. The farms are contiguous, and situated on Chicopee Row; and reference to them is found on pages 179-182, 220, and 264.
302
JOSIAH SARTELL'S BEQUEST.
BOSTON, Oct. 10, 1896.
DEAR DR. GREEN, -The case of William Brigham and wife vs. Samson Shattuck as it appears in 10 Pickering's Reports, 306, was thus : -
The will of Joseph Sawtell [sic], of Groton, executed in 1775, contained these two provisions : " My will is and I do hereby give and bequeath [devise] to the town of Groton forever, after the decease of my wife, all the buildings and lands which I have hereto- fore given her during her life, to use and improve forever, and . positively order that the same be not sold, but that they be rented out, and the premises kept in good repair forever hereafter, and that the overplus of the rents be annually applied towards the support of the gospel minister in said town ; and this to be under the inspec- tion and direction of the three senior selectmen by choice in said town forever."
" And as to the remainder of my estate, both real and personal, and residue of the same not heretofore disposed of, my will is, and I do hereby order my said executors, at their own option, to distrib- ute the same to and among the poor of said town and church of Groton, as I have heretofore been used to do."
The widow of Joseph Sawtell died in 1790, and the town entered into possession. Subsequently it procured an act of Legislature authorizing the sale of the devised premises and the reinvestment of the proceeds. The estate was sold to Job Shattuck, Jr., and was by him conveyed to the tenant in 1821. This writ of entry was brought in the right of the female demandant, niece and heir-at-law of the testator, on the ground of forfeiture for breach of condition in selling the same. The case was argued at October term, 1830, in Middlesex, by Samuel Hoar for the demandants, and Daniel Webster and Luther Lawrence for the tenant. No report of the arguments is published. Chief Justice Shaw delivered the opinion of the court, which held that the prohibition of any sale of the estate, if a condition, was what we know in law as a condition subse- quent ; that a contingent reversionary interest capable of being devised would have remained in the testator, but that he had devised this to his executor by the second clause above quoted. Consequently no interest in the estate descended to Mrs. Brigham, and she and her husband had no standing in court. This rendered it unnecessary to decide the more important questions which the
303
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF GROTON.
case seemed to involve. It is, however, now well settled that a legislature may authorize the sale and reinvestment of proceeds of lands devised like this estate, under a condition against any sale.
Very faithfully yours, C. H. HILL.
Hon. SAMUEL A. GREEN.
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF GROTON.
THE following list of titles is supplementary to those already given in the second volume (pages 173-226, 450-454), and the third (pages 455-466) of this Historical Series.
1673.
Mr. Willard's volume entitled : " Useful Instructions for a professing People in Times of great Security and Degeneracy : Delivered in several Sermons on Solemn Occasions " (Cam- bridge, 1673), stands at the head of the list given in the " Bibliography of Groton," which began in the second volume (page 173) of the Historical Series. The book consists of three sermons; and the Reverend William De Loss Love, of Hartford, has identified the occasions on which two of them were preached. In his " Fast and Thanksgiving Days " (page 516) Mr. Love says that the first of these three was delivered on June 16, 1670, and the third, on June 13, 1672; and I consider his judgment final. The second sermon was preached, proba- bly, during the winter of 1671-2, and was occasioned by a case of witchcraft at Groton, in the person of Elizabeth Knap, which is mentioned after the next title given below.
1705.
The Kingdom of Darkness. Or the History of Damons, Spectres, Witches, Apparitions, Possessions, Disturbances, and other super- natural Delusions, and Malicious Impostures of the Devil. Con- taining near eighty Relations, Foreign and Domestick, both Ancient and Modern. Collected from Authentick Records Real Attestations, and Evidences of undoubted Verity. With a Preface obviating the objections of the Sadduces and Atheists of the Age,
304
BIBLIOGRAPHIY OF GROTON.
who deny the Being of Spirits, Witches, &c. and Pictures of several Memorable Accidents. By R. B. The Third Edition. London, Printed for Nath. Crouch, at the Bell over-against Grocers-Alley in the Poultry, near Cheapside, 1705. 16mo. pp. 182.
This book (pages 41, 42) by Robert Burton gives an account of Elizabeth Knap, of Groton, who was accused of witchcraft. A history of the case may be found in "Groton in the Witch- craft Times" (Groton, 1883), pages 6-23. See also Collections (VIII. fourth series. 555-570) of the Massachusetts Historical Society.
1798.
A Dissertation on the Cynanche Maligna. By George Aspinwall. Dedham : Printed by Mann and Adams. 1798. 12mo. pp. 20.
This pamphlet is inscribed : "TO OLIVER PRESCOTT, jun. PHYSICIAN, in GROTON; MEMBER of the MASSACHUSETTS MEDICAL, and MIDDLESEX AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES."
1828.
[Letter to John Peabody by the Reverend John Todd.]
In the summer of 1828 Dr. Todd writes : " My church have printed my letter to Mr. [John] Peabody. Copies and reports were so numerous that we printed it in self-defense, in a little pamphlet." The letter gave his reasons for declining to offici- ate at Mrs. Peabody's funeral, but I have never seen a copy. An account of the affair is found on page 202 of Dr. Todd's Life.
An Address delivered in the Chapel of Amherst College before the Alexandrian Society, the Tuesday preceding Commencement. August 26, 1828. By John Todd, Pastor of the Union Church in Groton, Mass. Amherst : J. S. and C. Adams, Printers. 1828. 1 2110. PP. 31.
On the second page is a letter from Dr. Todd, dated, Groton, September, 1828, and addressed "To the Members of the Alexandrian Society."
1832.
Vote of the School Committee of the Town of Groton, November 25, 1832, and also Directions in regard to certain School Books adopted by the Committee, November 26, 1832. Broadside.
305
BIBLIOGRAPIIY OF GROTON.
1833.
William Brigham et ux. versus Samson Shattuck. [Boston, 1833.] No title page. 8vo. pp. 4.
This is a report of the action brought by the heirs of Josiah Sawtell against the tenant in possession of the lands devised to the town of Groton by the said Sawtell. The case was tried at the October term, 1830, of the Supreme Judicial Court, in Cambridge ; and a report of the same is found in the " Re- ports of Cases argued and determined in the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts " (X. 306-310), by Octavius Pickering, published in the year 1833. Another edition of the Reports appeared also in 1864. On October 19, 1830, the cause was argued by Samuel Hoar for the demandant, and Daniel Webster and Luther Lawrence for the tenant. These pages were evidently reprinted from the forms of the earlier edition of Pickering, where the matter takes up more space as it is more leaded. For references to the lawsuit, see pages 301-303 of this volume, and also Butler's History of Groton (pages 214, 215).
The New Testament of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ : trans- lated out of the original Greek ; and with the former translations diligently compared and revised. Stereotype edition. Groton, Mass. Printed and published by Alpheus Richardson. 1833. 16mo. pp. 335, (1).
1839.
To Contractors. [Poster by a Committee of the First Parish asking for proposals for removing and remodeling the Meeting House, dated at Groton, February 4, 1839, and signed by Benjamin Moors, Henry Woods, Daniel Shattuck, John G. Park, Peter Nutting, Daniel Livermore, and Asa Ames.] Broadside.
The broadside, which I have seen, has certain notes in manu- script by Benjamin P. Dix showing that the work of remod- elling the Meeting-house was begun on October 11, 1839; the plastering, February 28, 18440; "putting up desk," April 3; painting finished, May 13; and the building re-dedicated May 20.
1
306
BIBLIOGRAPIIY OF GROTON.
Groton. [By the Reverend Samuel Sewall, of Burlington, Mass. ]
This forms part of an article by Mr. Sewall on "A Brief Survey of the Congregational Churches and Ministers, in the County of Middlesex," etc., which appeared in " The American Quarterly Register " (XI. 259-261) for February, 1839.
1844.
[Circular showing the importance of connecting the Concord Rail- road and the Fitchburg, by constructing a road, which is now wanting between Nashua, N. H., and Groton, Mass., 1844 (?).] No titlepage. 8vo. pp. 7.
This title is found in the " Publications of the Library Leland Stanford Junior University I Catalogue of the Hopkins Railway Library by Frederick J. Teggart, Assistant Librarian" (Palo Alto, California, 1895), page 48.
1846.
The New Testament of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, trans- lated out of the Original Greek ; and with the former translation diligently compared and revised. Stereotyped by Luther Roby, Concord, N. H. Groton, Ms. Published by A. Richardson. 1846. 16mo. pp. 254.
Luther Roby, who made the stereotype plates of this edition, was the youngest son of James and Lucy (Cutter) Roby, of Amherst, New Hampshire, where he was born on January 8, 1801.
1847.
A Musical Entertainment will be given at Liberty Hall, in Groton, on Wednesday Eve, March 10, 1847, in aid of the suffering poor of Ireland, under the direction of Mr. E. R. Blanchard. Brown's Press, Groton. [Programme. ] Broadside.
1848.
Reply to "The Alarming Developments " and "Further Develop- ments," of the Rev. B. F. Clark, of North Chehansford, Mass., in the matter of the "Wrong Member of the Middlesex Bar con- victed of perjury," &c. By Asahel Huntington, late District
307
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF GROTON.
Attorney of the Northern District. Lowell, Mass. Printed for the Author. 1848. Svo. pp. 22.
The two pamphlets, to which this is a Reply, have been previously noticed in this Series (II. 451 ; III. 457, 458).
1855.
Covenant of the " South-Groton Christian Union." Adopted Aug. 12, 1855. 12mo. I P.
1856.
Materials for the History of Groton, Mass. By Samuel A. Green.
This paper appears in "The New England Historical and Genealogical Register" (X. 186, 187, 243-249) for April and July, 1856.
William Lawrence. [By Rev. Samuel K. Lothrop. ] No titlepage. 8vo. pp. 33-48.
Lawrence Academy, Groton, Mass. By Rev. Charles Hammond. No titlepage. 8vo. pp. 49-60.
These pages were taken from Barnard's " American Journal of Education " (II. 33-48, 49-60) for August, 1856, but not printed separately. The first paper is substantially the same as the " Memoir of William Lawrence " (Boston, 1856), pri- vately printed by Dr. Lothrop, in which some slight changes were made. See the Second Volume (page 194) of the Historical Series. This Memoir was reprinted in "Lives of American Merchants" (II. 365-385), by Freeman Hunt, and is accompanied by an engraved portrait, which appears also in the private edition.
A Genealogical Memoir of the Families of Lawrences, with a direct male line from Sir Robert Lawrence, of Lancashire, A. D. 1190 ; down to John Lawrence, of Watertown, A. D. 1636 : with notes of others of same name in different states. By Mercy Hale, Stowe, Mass. Boston : Printed for the Author. 1856. Svo. pp. 20. Pedigree of Lawrence. Compiled from heralds' visitations, inquisi- tions post mortem, deeds, charters, wills, parish registers, and other original manuscripts. By H[oratio] G[ates] Somerby, Esq. Broadside.
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